Four Hitters Who Changed Scenes - What Will That Mean?
In case you have been living under a rock, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are currently in the midst of a lockout. As a result, there can be no MLB transactions until the lockout is concluded, while the start of the regular season is now in doubt. I think I speak for everyone... Read More
Top MLB Prospects Rankings: #101-175 - Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Leagues
RotoBaller’s fantasy baseball prospects coverage is back. The 2022 season is quickly approaching and while the MLB season still hangs in the balance due to the lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, the minor league season will be unaffected (for players not on the 40-man roster). We’re continuing our 2022 prospect coverage with the comprehensive... Read More
Pitch Info: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball
One of the most fundamental questions in fantasy sports is if a player's current performance is sustainable. More than any other sport, baseball has a slew of statistical measures that can be dissected in numerous ways to analyze player performance. Pitch Info is a publicly-available pitch tracking system that provides a lot of different data to... Read More
Pitcher Predictability Analysis for Fantasy Baseball
There are different ways to have success as a pitcher. You can have wipe-out stuff, pinpoint command, superior deception, or an arsenal of different pitch types that make it tough for a hitter to see what is coming next. The best pitchers will have all of those things going for them. For this fantasy baseball... Read More
Late-Round Fantasy Baseball Third Base Targets - NFBC Draft and Hold Leagues
Lockout or not, fantasy baseball drafts have been taking place on several platforms. Sure, we do not know if or when the MLB season will start, but that will not stop us die-hard fantasy players. Some players have been researching for a few months, while some players are just now getting their first looks at... Read More
Batting Order: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball
You may be wondering why there aren't any advanced stats aimed at predicting a player's counting stats like runs and RBI. The answer is simple: modern sabermetrics reject the idea of a "clutch RBI guy" and therefore do not bother inventing predictive metrics for it. Runs and RBI are team-dependent stats and are unhelpful in ascertaining... Read More
NFBC Cutline with Curtis Jones - Benched with Bubba EP 435
Bubba (@bdentrek) is joined by NFBC veteran Curtis Jones (@CurtisJonesW). The guys will discuss Curtis's history in the NFBC, his success in the Cutline format, tips and tricks for cutline leagues, and much more. Be sure to subscribe to the Benched With Bubba Podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to... Read More
Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (Pull Rate) - Statcast Review for Fantasy Baseball
As the MLB and MLBPA keep working towards ending the lockout and getting baseball back into our lives, we've been keeping the offseason content going by digging into some 2021 stats. While we all obviously want the lockout to end, this is a useful time to do your research and have a better understanding of... Read More
Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Roto Mixed Leagues
The 2022 MLB season will hopefully be here before we know it, and similar to previous years we are ready to start releasing our first-cut rankings! Below in this article you'll see our MLB team's early 2022 fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings and tiers for 5x5 mixed roto leagues. This time of year is always... Read More
Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Shortstop Rankings - 5x5 Roto Mixed Leagues
It's still early in the 2022 MLB preseason, but we are ready to rock! In this article you'll find our team's early 2022 fantasy baseball shortstop rankings and tiers for 5x5 mixed roto leagues. This time of year is always exciting for baseball fans and fantasy baseball players, and we are more excited than ever.... Read More
Failure to Launch: Decreasing Launch Angles and Home Runs for Fantasy Baseball
Once the toast of advanced stats in the baseball universe, average launch angle’s prominence as a performance predictor has taken a step back to other power-focused metrics such as barrel rate and max exit velocity. Perhaps this is because the “launch angle revolution” from a few years ago turned out to be more of a... Read More
Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Roto Mixed Leagues
The 2022 MLB season will hopefully arrive before we know it, and questions will need to be answered. Who will be the closer on each MLB team, and how wild will the closer carousel be this year? Which relief pitchers will hold the most value for holds leagues? Below you'll find our early 2022 fantasy... Read More
AL Outfielders Set to Bust for Fantasy Baseball
In previous seasons, the outfield position has been one of the deepest positions to find top-end talent as well as deeper talent. In 2022, this appears to be the case again as the top-250 players based on ADP are littered with talent at the position. That being said, there are several land mines sprinkled throughout... Read More
Bubba and Bat Flip 111 - 2022 Fantasy Baseball Second Base Preview - Benched with Bubba (Episode 434)
Bubba (@bdentrek) is joined by Bat Flip Crazy (@BatFlipCrazy). In tonight's episode, the guys continue their positional previews with the second base position. They go over the top 10 in the current ADP, discuss some later targets, some ADP debates, listener questions, and more. Be sure to subscribe to the Benched With Bubba Podcast, part of RotoBaller... Read More
Pull%: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball
We have previously determined that fantasy managers generally prefer batters to hit the ball into the air to have a chance at a home run. Yet, all fly balls are not equal for this purpose. A player can maximize his power production by pulling the ball in the air. One way to illustrate this is... Read More
Top MLB Prospects Rankings: #176-250 - Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Leagues
RotoBaller’s fantasy baseball prospects coverage is back. The 2022 season is quickly approaching and while the MLB season hangs in the balance due to the lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, the minor league season will be unaffected (for players not on the 40-man roster). We’re beginning our 2022 prospect coverage with the comprehensive Top... Read More
Prime-Age Outfielders Set to Break Out for Fantasy Baseball
In modern baseball, we expect players to perform the instant they hit the majors, or shortly afterward. If the player hasn't broken out by age 25, we assume he will never break out. That wasn't always the case, however, as we used to view a player's mid-to-late-20s as the crucial time for a step forward.... Read More
Late-Round Fantasy Baseball Shortstop Targets - NFBC Draft and Hold Leagues
Welcome back RotoBallers to my ongoing series about NFBC late-round targets - today we take a look at shortstops. We are entering February and that means Fantasy Baseball draft season is ramping up. Sure, we do not know if or when the MLB season will start, but that will not stop us die-hard fantasy players!... Read More
Injury Risks to Avoid/Target in Fantasy Baseball: Ep. 71 of The Operating Room
Kev Mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) and host of the RotoSaurus: High Stakes Heat podcast Dave McDonald (@RunDMcD) discuss players in fantasy baseball who are either injured coming into the 2022 season or have increased risk factors based on prior injuries. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday... Read More
Pitchers' and Catchers' Report: Volume 2 - Catcher's Corner Episode 23
Eric (@SamskiNYC) and Sami (@Believe_Sami) continue their preseason breakdown of pitchers and catchers being drafted in the same ADP range. They discuss if they'd take Willson Contreras over either Yasmani Grandal or Daulton Varsho and then break down the second tier of starting pitchers to explain why they love Shane Bieber, are back in on... Read More
Making the Case for Dylan Bundy
Earlier this week, I started writing an article about my favorite late-round starting pitchers for draft-and-hold formats and found myself digging into Dylan Bundy. I wasn't really expecting to find much that would make me want to draft him anywhere, but I was intrigued enough by the projection systems giving him consistent innings in Minnesota... Read More
Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (xSLG) - Statcast Review for Fantasy Baseball
There are stats for everything now. It's great, but it can also be overwhelming at times. Depending on where we look, we can tell ourselves all different types of narratives about a player. As a result, I've always been a proponent of identifying the stats that you find to be most useful/beneficial and focusing on... Read More
2022's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Robbie Ray: Ep. 72 of The Operating Room
Kev Mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) is joined by RotoWire's Senior Editor and host of RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today on SiriusXM, Jeff Erickson (@Jeff_Erickson) to discuss their breakout (or bust) picks for this year that mimic 2021. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET,... Read More
HR/FB: Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball
Using BABIP to predict a player's batting average is great. Batting average is a category in many league formats, and every hit is an opportunity to steal a base or score a run. Most fantasy managers find the long ball sexier. Every HR comes with a guaranteed run scored and at least one RBI. Many... Read More
Shortstop Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
Although redraft season for fantasy baseball is not upon us yet, dynasty leagues are always active. Those crucial preseason cut/hold decisions are being weighed in order to assess the keeper value of each player on your roster. To help our readers make the most informed decisions, RotoBaller has updated dynasty baseball rankings, submitted by Brad... Read More
Identifying Potential Pitcher Breakouts - Biggest Changes in Fastball Usage
Every year, we are looking at different ways to find fantasy baseball breakouts. This is particularly true on the pitching side of things. Pitchers tend to be more volatile in terms of their year-to-year performance than hitters, paving the way for under-the-radar talents to emerge as frontline starters. When that happens, you'll want them on... Read More
Batted Ball Data Analysis - How Consistent Are GB%, LD%, and FB% Year To Year
When we are evaluating hitters, we talk a lot about batted ball profile. When we're talking about this, things like launch angle and ground ball rate are cited quite often. I wanted to make a post to go over these things a bit more in-depth, giving our readers more complete knowledge of the subject at... Read More
Second Base Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
Although redraft season for fantasy baseball is not upon us yet, dynasty leagues are always active. Those crucial preseason cut/hold decisions are being weighed in order to assess the keeper value of each player on your roster. To help our readers make the most informed decisions, RotoBaller has updated dynasty baseball rankings, submitted by Brad... Read More
Exit Velocity Leaders - Statcast Review for Fantasy Baseball
As we wait for MLB and the MLB Player's Association to work through the lockout issues and move forward with the 2022 baseball season, we've been digging into a few players that stand out as good fantasy investments based on their 2021 Statcast numbers. As with evaluations of any metric, these should be taken as... Read More